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While You Were Sleeping, Luis Castillo Officially Declared Himself a Cy Young Candidate

West coast baseball used to be a treat. In college, it just meant we had something to watch while we ordered food, drank whatever was left over in the keg from the weekend before and hours of MLB The Show Rivalry Mode (BRING IT BACK, SONY). Now, it’s exhausting. Every year when the Reds make their trips out west, I get really excited to watch late night baseball, just to fall asleep by the 5th inning. Last night was no different. Pizza -> Iron Man -> Reds game -> asleep by the 5th inning.

Just because the rest of Cincinnati fell asleep after a belly full of Trotta’s and Tony Stark being a badass doesn’t mean Luis Castillo didn’t continue to mow down the National League one game at a time.

In last night’s effort, Luis Castillo went 6 innings, allowing no runs and only 2 hits while striking out 11. Through nine starts, Castillo is 2nd in the NL with 70 strike outs, allowing hitters a paltry .168 batting average. Is that not impressive enough for ya? What if I told you a pitcher who starts a bulk of his games in Great American Ball Park has only allowed three home runs and 11 runs through 9 starts?

If you said no, then you can stop reading this blog (please, don’t actually – if anything click around and get our page views up) and go back to your St. Louis Cardinals Facebook group where you talk about playing the game the right way and praising Yadi for farting with respect.

Sometimes numbers can be deceiving and they don’t tell the full story. That’s not the case here. If anything, if it’s even possible, Luis Castillo has looked more dominant than the actual numbers suggest. He got roughed up a little in his last outing vs. the Giants in Cincinnati when he allowed 4 runs through 7 innings, so his stats are even more impressive when considering that. I mean, does this look like a pitcher who is deceiving us with ‘lucky stats’? You tell me.

I hope you were wearing a diaper, because you probably just shit your pants out of pure fear. Lord have mercy.

At this point in the season, unless his arm falls off, which would be a very Cincinnati thing to have happen, it’s almost a certainty he’ll be making the trip to Cleveland for 2019’s All-Star Game. I mean, I’m gonna regret this when he gets to the All-Star break with a 4-9 record with an ERA of 4.72.. but it won’t be the first time I’ve jinxed a favorite team of mine. (I had two incredible t-shirt designs locked and loaded for the last two years during the NHL playoffs, just to have the Blue Jackets blow their series lead before being eliminated)

If the Mac Jinx doesn’t happen, which God-willing it won’t, then I think we have a legitimate Cy Young candidate on our hands in Cincinnati. People laughed at the idea of David Bell naming Luis Castillo the Opening Day starter back in spring training, but who’s laughing now? Castillo has become the ace we all knew he could be after flashes of brilliance throughout the last two seasons, but he’s never been able to put it all together for a long stretch like he has so far in 2019.

If 2019 continues the way it’s started for Castillo, there may be another piece of hardware coming to the Queen City besides the Commissioner’s Trophy*.

*If Major League Baseball decides to start giving it to the 3rd place team in the NL Central instead of the World Series winner.